NBN Co reveals first five wireless zones

NBN Co yesterday revealed the first five Australian locations which will receive a high-speed wireless connection as part of the Federal Government’s flagship National Broadband Network (NBN) scheme.

Following the news in June this year that the organisation had partnered with Ericsson to construct and manage its planned 4G fixed wireless network, NBN Co yesterday said it was now ready to begin work preparing the first wireless sites in the country.

The company has revealed for the first time that Ballarat, Victoria, Darwin in the Northern Territory, Geraldton, Western Australia, Tamworth in New South Wales and Toowoomba, Queensland will be the first locations in Australia to receive the wireless network.

“Thousands of premises in these locations will be provided with access to the fixed wireless network that will offer peak download speeds of 12 Mbps per second, ” Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, said in a statement. “The early rollout of next generation fixed wireless technologies to communities in regional Australia is an important milestone in the delivery of affordable, high-speed broadband.”

Conroy also assured Australians that NBN Co is ensuring that the network — despite being built to support 4G, the next-generation standard — will be built for the future. “Looking forward, NBN Co is already making plans to upgrade the network to deliver higher speeds as technology advances,” he said.

The fixed wireless network will be provided alongside a high-speed satellite network for other, more rural locations across the country with the deployment of the Interim Satellite Service program now well underway. Six Australian companies are now selling high-speed satellite services to Australians.

However the Interim Satellite Service program is, as the name itself suggests, only temporary, with two permanent high-capacity satellites to be bought online by NBN Co towards the end of 2015.

Yesterday’s news also comes as NBN Co prepares to turn on the next Australian first release trial site in Brunswick Victoria, with a launch event expected to take place this week. It’ll be the third mainland site to be switched on, meaning just two first release sites remain before the company begins work on second release sites later this month.

They’re probably also preparing to upgrade to LTE Advanced when it comes out. That should allow for 50 mbps peak speeds.

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